1960s – FilmsFolded

Beauty #2 (1965)

Seduction Most of what Warhol does for me is of the “oh, I get it” variety of art, where a statement is supposed to trigger an insight and the insight is the art. Its an indirection of agency, and wears out its effect quickly. But sometimes it connects deeply, and this does. You might see… Continue reading Beauty #2 (1965)

Barbarella (1968)

Which Skin? There are only a few films that can be called roots. 1968 generated two of them, “2001” and this. “2001” is about the ambiguities of who is narrating. This is about the ambiguities of where the skin is. From the very beginning, the prurient peeling of the spacesuit, to the marvellous suits she… Continue reading Barbarella (1968)

Atom Age Vampire (1960)

Unexpected Assembly I don’t suppose many people have the time for watching bad movies in the hope of transcendent insights. If you are one of these, let me save you some time. This might be on your list. Yes, I know it is yet another cheapo; made in Italy by hacks. It is even more… Continue reading Atom Age Vampire (1960)

Apartment (1960)

Mechanical I have just had quite an argument with a well known film critic. He maintains that films are either good or bad and any good film is just simply good. I maintained that films are little worlds. Some are created more successfully than others. Some are more novel or clever or valuable than others.… Continue reading Apartment (1960)

Alphaville (1965)

Reduced Time gives us great advantages. One of these is that we can see art in terms other than the artist used in creating it. The French New Wave was an interesting and timely set of cinematic ideas that were burdened at the time by clumsy theory and some frankly moronic critics. Now we can… Continue reading Alphaville (1965)

Knife in the Water (1962)

Lubricated Blade There is nothing more thrilling than discovering a natural filmmaker for the first time. There are only so many, and you can only have cinema menarche once. It is an introduction into another life. I first saw this in 1965 at the Orson Welles Cinema near Harvard Square. We were told it was… Continue reading Knife in the Water (1962)

Murder by the Book (1967)

Double Folds This isn’t worth watching for what it is, but I count it as a notable example, more so because it is a cheap TeeVee production with low aspirations. The overall story is about art forgery. The structure is adventuresome. The story we see is written by the mystery writer who is the main… Continue reading Murder by the Book (1967)

Murder Ahoy (1964)

Jerry Lewis’ Mutiny The good: well it has a jaunty theme song. At least it honors the original form in that the order we see things in is roughly the order of discovery by the detective. By this entry in the series, they had seriously lost their way. What genuinely started out as detective stories… Continue reading Murder Ahoy (1964)

Goldfinger (1964)

Two Zeros This is the best of the Bonds, in part because the action/gizmo genre was so young. In those days — hard to believe — this was smart humour, was sexy and thrilled. Now it is merely of historical interest only. Worse, there are franchises that one can watch and really get a lesson… Continue reading Goldfinger (1964)

Seven-Up! (1964)

This did not start as a folded adventure. It is a quite ordinary TV documentary. But it became so in later installments by Apted, where the interviews are largely about how the films affected their lives.